School chums remember Old School days

One in a continuing series focusing on the history of the Old School building.

By: Casha Caponegro
   It is very rare that a childhood friendship can withstand the test of time.
   People often lose track of their school chums as they embark on their careers or start families, causing their past relationships to fade into memories.
   For Emil Witt and Jimmy Christianson, however, that is not the case. The two childhood friends have maintained a close friendship for more than 75 years.
   "I live two doors up, so I try to see him every day," said Mr. Christianson. "He likes to holler at me but he knows he can’t get the best of me because I know him too well."
   They met in 1925 when they were in the same kindergarten class at the Cranbury School and have remained the best of friends since that time.
   "We were the last class to have our graduation ceremony at the Second Presbyterian Church on Westminster Place before it was torn down," said Mr. Christianson, who graduated from the school, along with Mr. Witt, in 1934.
   Mr. Christianson and Mr. Witt attended the Cranbury School when it was a small red brick building, later known as the Old School building.
   The building recently has undergone about $2 million in renovations and will be rededicated as Cranbury’s Town Hall in a ceremony on Oct. 14.
   At the time that they attended school, their class of approximately 37 students was the largest class in the school’s history.
   "We had a big class," said Mr. Christianson. "It seemed like every teacher that we had would quit after us."
   Mr. Christianson did point out that one teacher, Ms. Bergen, taught them both in first and fifth grade.
   "The only difference in those days was you would have one teacher who would teach all subjects," said Mr. Witt.
   Both schoolmates remembered that the school had separate entrances for girls and boys. The school also had separate outhouses, one on the boy’s side of the school toward Main Street and another on the girl’s side near the First Methodist Church.
   Mr. Witt, who at the time lived on Ansel Davison Road near the current Cranbury Swim Club, relied on an unusual form of transportation to get him to and from school each day during his first year.
   "When I first went to school my bus was a horse-drawn carry-all from the Ferm Barcolo Farm," he said. "The next year they got us a bus."
   The Cranbury School also had a very different lunch policy in those days than it does now.
   "We had a lunchroom, but town children had to go home to eat," said Mr. Christianson, who at the time lived in town, near the post office.
   "I usually brought my own lunch," said Mr. Witt, who ate in the lunchroom. "They sold lunch, but usually we couldn’t afford it. For a couple of years there was a woman in town that would make the lunches and a half hour before lunch time we had to pick up the food and bring it to the school."
   The school also had a prayer service every morning, which is no longer practiced in public schools.
   "Starting in fourth grade all of the students had to go to the auditorium each morning," said Mr. Christianson. "After the Pledge of Allegiance a teacher would read from the Bible, I think the Lord’s Prayer, and we would sing some songs."
   The school also had a different policy toward discipline.
   "If you were really bad they would put you in the clothes closet or stand you in the corner of the classroom," said Mr. Christianson.
   Although Mr. Witt and Mr. Christianson claimed to not remember a specific time when they got in trouble, they did recall a business they would run during the school hours.
   "We would buy candy at the American Store at three pieces for 10 cents and we would sell them to kids for a nickel a piece," said Mr. Christianson. "We made enough money to rent a bus so we could go to Atlantic City for a day."
   "But there was no casinos then," said Mr. Witt.
   "Yeah, but there was still the steel pier," said Mr. Christianson.
   In the midst of the Great Depression, students of the Cranbury School often had to struggle to get by.
   "People don’t know what it was like then," said Mr. Christianson. "We were so poor, we could hardly afford to wear clothes or eat."
   Despite the difficulties they had to overcome, both Mr. Witt and Mr. Christianson agreed that they received a top-notch education at the Cranbury School.
   "It was a great place to go to school," said Mr. Witt. "It was just as good as any other for those days. Not like today. It seems like most kids can’t add 10 numbers together."
   "The education I got, you can’t beat it," said Mr. Christianson. "It was the best as far as I’m concerned. We had the best teachers we could possibly have. They all were great."
   Although the childhood friends grew apart slightly as they began their careers and families, their relationship experienced a renewal in their senior years.
   "We have got closer after we both retired and I let him move up the street," said Mr. Witt, putting emphasis on the word "let," causing Mr. Christianson to laugh.
   The lifelong friends now enjoy sitting in a pair of armchairs in front of Mr. Witt’s home on Brainerd Drive, watching pedestrians go by and reminiscing about their boyhood days at the Cranbury School.